Rekindle
by BullDeme
Summary: Fionna learns of Gumball's and Marshall's secret history together and wishes to repair it in fear it may break all of them apart. M for possible future chapters.
1. Curious

Rekindle

Chapter 1

Fionna's and Cake's Treehouse

Fionna yawned, sitting up straight in her bed and stretching her thin arms high into the air only to quickly jerk the furry covers back over her body and shiver. "Grr," the girl grumbled, forcing herself out of bed, her long blonde locks hanging down her back as she draped the covers over her shoulders instead to protect herself from the chill.

Approaching the window, the young teen realized she heard soft mumbling coming from downstairs. "Hm," she hummed, standing a moment at the open window in hopes of hearing better, but to no avail. A sigh of disappointment and annoyance left the girls lips forcing her to accept the fact that it was time to get out of bed. Pulling the window shut, Fionna stepped away, tossing the blanket back on the bed and hummed softly to herself while she decided her casual attire for the day.

"Stealth mode!" whispered the girl taking on a ninja stance next to the latter. The voices were a bit louder here, but still the words could not be made out clearly. She could now make out a male and a female voice, though. Obviously the woman's voice was Cake and she guessed that the man's voice was that of Prince Gumball.

Fionna decided to, only semi-discreetly, verify her guess by sneaking a quick peek. Laying flat on her stomach, the girl grabbed the edge of the floor, leaned over and poked her head down far enough so that only her eyes were visible from the hole in the floor. Now satisfied to see that she was correct she wore a smile, temporarily forgetting about the vicious chill in the air.

"Whatcha guys talking about?" Fionna chimed in with a friendly smile spread across her cute face. She was a bit disappointed to see that she caught neither off guard, however, it did not show. They'd probably heard her walking around earlier.

Prince Gumball was the first to speak up. "Ah, Fionna!" He responded cheerily. "I have something to ask you if you don't mind." Said the prince with a small smile. After receiving a simple shrug from the girl as she now stood with them, forming a small triangle shape in the middle of the living room, the boy opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off by the female feline.

"Whoooah there, big boy," Cake began. "You can't be bothered to even say 'good morning'?" Her little paws now laid on her hips as she stared at him for a mere seconds before reaching up and flicking one of the ears on the blonde teens hat. "Good morning, sweetpea." The spotted feline greeted affectionately. "Breakfast?"

Fionna nodded at her friend, "Yeah, sure. Thanks, Cake. Now, what was it you were going to ask, PG? Need me to go on a adventure or something?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. I would like to ask you, and Cake, of course, to be special guests at my annual Snowflake Ball!" As always, the prince seemed pretty pumped for the party, and though parties were usually fun, Fionna found herself being a little... iffy on it seeing as she was used to more exciting bits. Gumball's always seemed to be of the more... formal and composed and that just wasn't her cup of tea.

"Um, well, okay. Sure, dude. Why not?" The blonde said a bit reluctantly. Her reluctance went seemingly unnoticed, which quickly was switched to surprise upon hearing Gumball's next request.

Handing his friend a small envelope, Gumball explained. "Excellent! Also, I would appreciate it if you could pass this on to Marshall Lee for me, please?"

This request caused the girl's jaw to drop a bit. She knew they were on semi-friendly terms, but actually inviting Marshall to something like this? Was he really doing that, or was it something else? "Um, okay..?" After exchanging a few more words the young prince left the two to themselves and returned to his kingdom to prepare.

Their breakfast was short, but enough to full the young girl to energize her for the day ahead. "Alright, Cake! Ready to go then?"

"Already? Ugh, fine.." Cake whined with a small cross of her arms, but went on without further complaint. Attaching herself to Fionna's backpack the two set off for Marshall's house. "Do you think he'll even still be up by the time we get there? It is morning time after all, Fi."

"Yeah, it'll be fine. If he's asleep we could just slip it under the door, or something. Either way he'll get it eventually." Explained the girl strolling on down the road as her feline friend shrunk herself to fit inside the small green bag hanging from Fionna's shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah, I just hope he's not feeling too mischievous this morning. Boy still sends shivers down mah spine sometimes." Cake hissed, ears pinning back a little at the thought of the undead prankster, earning her a roll of the eyes from her blond friend as a silence then fell between the two.

The silence was short lived as Cake soon began to notice a slight thickness building up. Peeping over the girls shoulder, Cake wondered if she should question it. The look on her dear friends face concerned her, but should she meddle? Fionna was getting older and fewer problems lead the girl to the feline for help. She was growing and was now concealing her own secrets she did not always wish to turn over to her friend.

... Pssh, it'll be fine, Cake assured herself, flicking her little wrist. "Something bothering you, sweetpea?" Cake asked in her usual friendly, concerned tone.

"Nah, not really." Responded the girl, still making their way toward the cave.

Silence.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about something?" Cake received a chuckle in return. Before receiving an answer.

"I'm fine, Cake, really. Just thinking. Curious."

Swiping the back of her paw over her forehead the cat pretended to wipe away sweat. "Whew," she began, "that's where all that smokes coming from. I thought there was a fire some where." She teased.

Fionna shook her head in response for a second before realizing the meaning behind the cats words. "Heeey!" She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm just... wondering why Gumball invites Marshall to things like this. They hardly seem to get a long and Marshall doesn't even like these sorts of things. It's like Gumball sets himself up for Marshall to act like a jerk. It happens every time. I don't get it." Explained the young teen.

"Don't worry about it, baby. It's none of your concern. It's their business what they do - just leave it be." Said Cake, petting the girls cheek comfortingly, knowing Fionna dislikes these sorts of situations. The poor girl always seemed to end up being caught in the middle of the two older boys' arguments - which often ended up being pretty heated.

With that, the conversation ended a few moments later with a soft, "I know," from the younger girl. They then proceeded on to the undead boys home.


	2. Why're you so nervous?

Chapter 2

Marshall's Cave

Light, musical strumming emitted from the lonely house. The gentle notes carrying their sweet melodies through the window and bouncing off the stone walls of the cave surrounding the single home, making it seem much louder. Floating in the center of his living room, humming softly with the solemn sound of his guitar, Marshall turned his head toward the window and sighed; his fingers began to slow until they came to a complete halt.

"Jeez, I'm bored. I wonder what everyone else is up to now..." Mumbled the dark haired man as he floated up the ladder. "Maybe I'll visit Fionna tonight." Pondering his course of action for the night to come, he floated into his bedroom and proceeded to change into his pajama's.

Marshall released a big yawn and stretched, making his way over his bed to catch some Z's. Just as he was letting his eyes drift shut and all his thoughts were coming to a halt loud banging came from his door, a loud voice followiing after with harsh whispers from bellow. A heavy sigh accompanied by a glare directed at his wall, Marshall cursed his friends as he lifted himself into a sitting position.

His irritation towards his friends quickly disappeared as he approached the door. "Hey, Fi. what's up, Cake?" Said the Vampire King, directing a sneaky smirk at the cat peaking over the younger girls shoulder.

"Hey, Marsh!" Said the girl excited, throwing up her hand in greeting. "Just came by to see how you've been. Oh, and to give you this." She said, lifting the letter to Marshall after a small whisper from her friend reminded her of the true reason why they intruded.

"Oh yeah? What's this? A love letter?" Mocked the demon vampire with a smirk. Leaning back to float in a more relaxed fashion now, "Are you finally revealing your feelings for me, Fionna?" Marshall chuckled when Fionna cut him off.

Red faced, clearly embarrassed, Fionna spoke up, "What!? No!" She answered, her shoulders tensing as she continued to glare at the boy who was now inspecting the envelope.

"Oh.." Marshall answered softly, narrowing his dark red eyes at the slip of paper in his hand. "Pbbt.." He spat, tossing the paper onto the coffee table and grabbing up his guitar again. He could see the concern on the young girls face, but he chose to ignore it as he leaned back again and rested the instrument on his abdomen, mentally preparing himself for the question.

"What's wrong?" There it was; right on of queue. Nothing was wrong, really. That's what made the question so annoying.

"Nothing. Why? What makes you think something is wrong?" He responded, giving her a glance as he worked with the guitar to distract himself from the conversation. Getting too deep in the conversation right now would just be too much of a hassle.

"Oh, good. I thought you two were going to fight again, or something." Fionna said, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck.

"Nah, it's nothing. Nothing like that." He answered simply before a silence fell between the small group. Marshall continued to strum a few cords on his guitar, almost the only thing keeping the awkward away. It was always like this, at best, when it came to Gumball and Marshall Lee for some reason. Fionna couldn't figure it out. Sometimes they would get along really well, but then other times they acted like they were the worst enemies, like they just completely hated each other; it almost seemed to Fionna like they done it intentionally... like they were trying to remind themselves they hated each other.

Everytime it made Fionna uncomfortable. She was already chewing nervously on his lower lip and adverting her eyes from time to time. Moving her hand to fiddle with the tips of her bangs she sighed and quickly moved the subject along. "So.. are you going tonight? To Gumball's party, I mean." Like she really had to explain...

Marshall remained quiet for a minute, clearly thinking the whole thing over for a few minutes. "Hm, I don't know. I was thinking about going to LSP's party."

"What? Why? But-" Fionna began to argue, but Marshall quickly cut her off.

"He asked me first, Fi. Sorry. Maybe I'll drop by for Bubbs - Ah-I mean you and him, ah... for all of you guys, but we'll just have to see." Marshall said, a frown now stretching across his face.

Ugh! This sucked, he sounded so awkward! Stopping by for Bubba? Maybe it was only weird on his end... Yeah, it was no big deal. After all, he was the one that sent the invitation, so obviously it made sense he would stop by FOR Bubba. Yeah.. It was only weird on his end.

"Uh, yeah... Okay." That was weird... Defensive much? Fionna and Cake thought to themselves, as they watched the fidgeting vampire. "Are you two still mad at each from last time, or something? Come on, it won't be that bad. PG is a pretty forgiving guy. I mean, you should know that." She said, raising an eyebrow at Marshall's quick response.

"Yeah-yeah, Fionna, I know, okay? It's nothing - we're not fighting anymore, I just-.. it's just not my thing, okay?" He sighed, falling silent for a minute as Cake hissed harshly.

No one spoke to Fionna that way. "Hey!" She hissed angrily at the boy. "What're you getting so bent out of shape for, boy?" Cake frowned; Marshall only sighed and remained quiet.

"No, Cake, it's fine. He's just cranky from not sleep." Teased the blond, watching her friend pout now. "Well, whatever it is, Marshall, I hope you two work it out soon. I guess I'll see you at the ball, then. Er... Might? Might see you there?" She asked giving Marshall one of her sweet smiles, making the man smile back.

"Yeah... yeah, I guess if I have time I'll drop on by." Said the vampire with a small smile of his own. It really lightened up his features, for an undead vampire, Marshall had a sweet smile. It was a smile that could easily be used as a secret weapon by a sociopath.

However, as he watched the girl and her friend leave his smile quickly faded. "Ah nuts..." he mumbled, a small panic rising in the pit of his stomach. "I don't even know what to wear.." Marshall mumbled softly to himself as his eyes drifted around the room. His breath quickened a bit and he quickly flew up to his bedroom. Placing the guitar on its stand he stood in the middle of his room and stared at the dresser.

Come on. Calm down. It's no big deal - it's not like they were dating, after all. It'd... just been a long time since he'd seen the prince. It was always good to make a good impression - make them think - wait... What the fuck!? What was he freaking out over? "This is stupid." He growled to himself, glaring and floating over to his bed. It was time to sleep now and forget this whole mess. He already said he'd go to LSP's party, so that's where he was going to go. It wasn't like Gumball really cared, anyway. If he happened to visit the Candy Kingdom tonight, then so be it, but he wasn't about to go out of his way to impress the preppy prince.

With that, the matter was (sort of) settled. Taking a deep breath, Marshall relaxed and allowed himself to fall asleep. Though, in the back of his mind the Ball still itched at his thoughts, trying to claw its way forward to haunt his dreams while he slept. A few questions would slip by before he fell asleep, but he would grumble and push it back as far as he could and try to forget it.

* * *

AN: So, uh, I realize I should have put this in the first chapter, but oh well. It never crossed my mind until I already posted it. I just thought this would be easier.

Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time or any characters related. I make no money off these sorts of stories.

Also, it has been a long while since I wrote actual fanfiction, and it'll probably be a while before I can actually get back into the swing of things. I hope you enjoy, anyway. I will try to improve my writing and the actual chapters themselves as I go along, so don't be surprised if some of them seem different from when you read it before, if you happen to reread.

I understand my writing is a little bit of everywhere at the moment, so... I'm sorry if you kind of can't follow how Marshall and Fionna were feeling in this chapter. I will try to... paint a better picture next time.


	3. Little Effort

p style="text-align: center;"Gumball's Castle/p  
p style="text-align: center;"br /After their little chat with Marshall, Cake and Fionna decided it would probably be a good idea to see if Gumball needed any help with any final touches for his Snowflake Ball that night. It all seemed pretty sudden, if you asked Fionna (obviously Cake didn't care enough to put too much thought into this kind of stuff.) Honestly, though, a part of her was telling her she probably should have been expecting it. Gumball seemed to host these kind of things quite often now that she was actually thinking about it. Was this one even a real thing? She didn't recall it happening last year.../p  
p style="text-align: center;"So lost in her thoughts still, Fionna once again didn't notice the worry spreading on her friends face. She was so lost in her own world, the girl only remembered her friends presence when the feline finally removed herself from the backpack. "Huh? What's wrong, Cake?" Fionna asked, stopping for a moment at the sight of Cake stretching her paws onto the ground beside her, barely missing a step./p  
p style="text-align: center;""I could ask you the same thing, sweetie. You've been strangely quiet today - ever since you spoke to Gumball this morning. You've really got to let it go. It's not-"/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Oh! No, no, Cake! I was just trying to remember if Gumball even had a Snowflake Ball last year. He said annual, right? Well, that means yearly, doesn't it?"/p  
p style="text-align: center;"Cake sighed in relief and almost laughed at her own concern, but she knew that was only part of the truth. She knew Fionna was tired of being caught between the two fools and that she feared another fight would break out. There really wasn't anything the two of them could do about it, though, so Cake prefered to let the two boys hash it out on their own. Fionna, on the other hand, always tried to settle things so they could all have fun. They were two of her best friends, after all. That was definitely made clear after the insident with the Door Lord./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Of course, Cake caught something fishy then, and began to wonder if it was something deeper than just two polar opposites fighting over the same friend like a couple of territorial roosters./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Don't worry about it, sweetie. We're here now; we should just go see if he needs some help. Okay?" Cake said after a few moments of silence./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Yeah, you're right." Responded Fionna with a small smile. They now walked through the castle to the ballroom, only to find Gumball frantically putting up some last minute touches./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Gumball, are you okay?" The blonde asked worriedly. Her worry only worsened when she noticed that jerk her voice caused in the mans body./p  
p style="text-align: center;"With a sharp intake of breath, Gumball turned and eyed the two for a second before it finally seemed to register who he was looking at. "Fionna, Cake, everything is fine, just... had to change a few things." He responded, which earned a small scoff from one of his tiny round, candy shaped helpers./p  
p style="text-align: center;""He is being a perfectionist." Butterscotch responded matter-of-factly as she passed, which earned her a glare from the prince, who then put his hands on his hips./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Gumball sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I just really want things to be nice," started the prince, but allowed Fionna to speak instead of continuing./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Gumball, it is nice. It's always nice. You throw great parties." The young girl offered with a gentle smile. "Speaking of parties, who all is coming?"/p  
p style="text-align: center;"Gumball smiled back and gave a soft 'thank you' before answering her question. "Well, uh, it's, um, open for all," responded the prince, offering a smile that was just slightly too big. It made him look nervous, but Fionna just gave a much smaller smile and brushed it off./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Once the prince turned away to finish a few things up, her smile vanished and her eyebrows pinched together. "Hm." She hummed thoughtfully. "Cake... do you think Gumball's acting kind of weird?"/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Ugh, Fi, please! These boys are always weird. Anyway, let's just set up for the party tonight and have some fun!" The feline answered excitedly. This brought a real smile back to Fionna and she nodded before the two eagerly went back over to Gumball to receive their jobs./p  
p style="text-align: center;"LSP's partybr /"Woah, woah, heeeey, Marshall!" Shouted LSP cheerily, already drink in hand and mingling with the many that decided to show up early. It was already crowded and Marshall knew it was only going to get even more crowded as the night went on. LSP was great at throwing parties after all, so those that didn't show up at Gumballs were probably going to be here./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Marshall lifted his hand in greeting, "Hey, LSP. How's it going?" He asked in his smooth voice as they high fived each other./p  
p style="text-align: center;""You're asking me? What's with the get-up? This is a 'casual' party, Marshall." Mocked his friend, placing his left hand on his side and he gave the vampire a suspcious look./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Marshall immediately tensed. LSP knew the basic details of his previous... relationship with Gumball. He really didn't want to bring this up here, but he didn't want to risk leaving late and not having the chance to change his clothes at home and then not making an appearance at all at Gumball's - yes, he decided to TRY to go./p  
p style="text-align: center;"With a nervous cough and a side glance he looked back at LSP and squared his shoulders. "Well-"/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Oh my glob!" LSP gasped loudly, causing the vampire to jump. Before he even had the chance to ask, LSP continued dramatically. "You're going to Gumball's!" LSP said with a smirk, flinging his cup, even with his drink still in it. "Boy, you have to give me all the juicy dets! Are you getting back together? Oh~! Are you two-"/p  
p style="text-align: center;""LSP! It's nothing like that. I'm Hana Abadeer's son. It's either me or her." He said, hoping that that was enough to knock LSP off the trail for now. It was all he could think of to say./p  
p style="text-align: center;"This only caused LSP to stare Marshall down for a few moments, placing both hands on his hips. "Then what's with the nice tux if you're not trying to impress someone?" The prince finally asked, knowing damn well Marshall didn't dress up just because it was supposed to be a formal gathering, or whatever it was that Gumball's party was supposed to be./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Ugh, um, it's for my mom." He huffed, then pinched the bridge of his nose. "LSP, am I going to play for your party, or not?" Honestly, Marshall just wanted to get out of this conversation so bad. He didn't prepare any answers and he was almost certain he could feel his face heating up no matter how hard he was trying to fight the embarrassment and nervousness off./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Fine." LSP finally responded, crossing his arms. "But, you have to tell me all the details after it's over." Demanded his friend, lifting an eyebrow at the vampire who finally caved with a heavy sigh and a quiet "fine, whatever" then floated up to the stage./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Gumball's castlebr /Pushing past the crowd, Fionna stepped out into the hall and took a deep breath. Ah, that was much better. After everyone arrived, it became very busy and Fionna felt like she hardly had the chance to breath with all the prince's and princesses present and wanting to thank her for her services./p  
p style="text-align: center;"The blonde leaned back against the wall next to the door way, she allowed herself a moment to relax and let the wall cool her skin. Until she heard a shuffling to her right, putting her back on guard. She pulled her crystal sword from the tightened ribbon from around her waist, but didn't yet extend it from its rock form./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Creeping closer, she noticed, and recognized the pink clothing through the parted curtains that lead out to one of the balcony's. "Hey, Gumball, you're party is doing great." Fionna greeted as she stepped out onto the balcony behind Gumball, moving to stand to his left. "What are you doing out here?"/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Oh, nothing. Just thought I'd step out for a bit. Needed some actual air." He joked, though his eyebrows were still raised, giving his expression a somewhat sad or disappointed appearance./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Ye-yeah, I know what you mean. It got pretty hot in there after all them showed up." Fionna said with a smile, deciding not to bring up what was eating at Gumball./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Gumball only smiled back at her before looking back out at the brightly colored kingdom. For something that seemed so bright and joyous during the day, it was very strange and quiet at night. The bright colors didn't even help to make it seem livlier, only bright from the light bouncing off of all the structures./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Fionna looked over when she felt the tension building from Gumball's side of the platform. She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but was cut off by Gumball's question. Which left her speechless for a moment, anyway./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Did he say if he was coming or not?" The prince finally asked. He'd assumed Marshall Lee would show up, even if for just a moment or to pick a fight, or even just to wreck the party one way or another. However, he hadn't caught a glimpse of him anywhere. The ball would be ending soon and the jerk didn't even stop to say 'hi'. "I just need to know if we should wait longer, or if I should go ahead and call it a night."/p  
p style="text-align: center;"The lame effort of a smile Gumball had caused Fionna's mouth to drop. She wasn't meaning to gape, but this was... new to her. She knew they were trying to get along better, but to actually see that Gumball's excitement had been on the thought of Marshall coming tonight and that his disappointment was bad enough to cause him to leave his own ball made her angry at the vampire./p  
p style="text-align: center;""He, uh, he said he would try, but he had other plans already." She responded gently. "We should go back inside, Gumball, it's kind of cold now." She said, grabbing her left arm and rubbing slightly. Boy, she wanted to yell at Marshall, but Cake's words to 'stay out of it' and 'let them sort it out' kept ringing in the back of her mind./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Oh, you can go ahead. I'm going to go change my shirt." The prince offered, gesturing to a stain on his dress shirt. The two shared a small laugh before she walked off with a 'see you in there'. A heavy sigh left his body, his body slouched a little as he looked back out at the lands surrounding his kingdom before walking inside to his bedroom./p 


End file.
